QATAR AIRWAYS UPGRADES BUCHAREST-SOFIA ROUTE TO DAILY SERVICE

Frequency Increase To Commence October 1

17 Aug 2014

Doha, QATAR – Qatar Airways has further strengthened its commitment to the Bucharest and Sofia routes by announcing an increase in flight frequency to the popular destinations in Eastern Europe. The airline, which currently operates to the Bucharest-Sofia linked route five times a week, will add two additional frequencies commencing October 1, bringing the number of flights to seven per week.

With the addition of the two new frequencies, the route, which will be serviced by a Premium A320 aircraft will offer an additional 48 Business Class and 360 Economy Class seats per week, with an overall increase of 408 seats.

The increase in frequency on the linked Bucharest-Sofia route will provide passengers in Romania and Bulgaria with more options when travelling to any one of the more than 140 destinations in Qatar Airways’ global network. In addition, excellent connection times when transferring through the new state-of-the-art Hamad International Airport make it very easy for business and leisure passengers travelling to routes in the Middle East and Asia.

Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive Officer, His Excellency Mr. Akbar Al Baker said: “Bucharest-Sofia has been an extremely popular route for those travelling to and from Europe. The additional two frequencies will help meet the demand the airline has for this particular route. Europe in particular, is an extremely popular destination for a number of our passengers, especially those in East Asia and we are pleased to be able to continue to offer more options to those looking to travel with us and enjoy our five-star service.”

Qatar Airways established its footprint in the Eastern European region with Bucharest, the Romanian capital being introduced to its network in January 2011. In September, the same year, Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria was linked onto the route as Qatar Airways continued its European expansion. Both destinations offer numerous historical attractions and cultural events to the millions of tourists that visit each year.

Popular destinations to and from Bucharest and Sofia include Tokyo, Shanghai, Seoul, Dubai, Melbourne, Singapore, Manila, Bangkok, Maldives, Nairobi, and Delhi.

Qatar Airways, the State of Qatar’s national airline, has seen rapid growth in just 17 years of operation, to the point where today it is flying a modern fleet of 135 aircraft to 144 key business and leisure destinations across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific, North America and South America.

On October 30, 2013, Qatar Airways joined the oneworld Alliance, becoming the first Gulf carrier to join a global airline alliance, enabling its customers to benefit from almost 1,000 airports in more than 150 countries, with 14,250 daily departures.

Award-winning carrier Qatar Airways was presented with three honours at the annual Skytrax 2014 World Airline Awards held during the Farnborough Air Show in the UK. The airline was awarded World’s Best Business Class for the second year consecutively, World’s Best Business Class Airline Lounge for the second time consecutively and, Best Airline in the Middle East for the eighth time.

At the Farnborough Air Show, the airline placed an order for 100 Boeing 777X aircraft, taking Qatar Airways’ orders to more than 340 aircraft with a value of US $70 billion.